Voice of experience... I don't pull crap like that either any more. NO MORE ALL-NIGHTERS - unless I'm really enjoying myself. Nor will I ever again fail to buy the A Class parking permit, should I find myself back at a Pac-10 school that offers one.
I didn't, on the calculus that, given that parking tickets were $11 each and a permit was $240, I could "spend" 21 tickets and still come out ahead. Throughout the year (a long time ago), I did exactly that, "spending" 21 tickets like a basketballer spends fouls. Had I paid those tickets promply, I guess it still would've worked out.
I didn't, though, and the fine and late fee on each reached $25. My plan was now in the red and the tickets weren't paid. I went to court and argued, credibly, that I was but a poor grad student and couldn't afford the $525 fine. The judge ( a nice-looking AfAm woman with whom I got the "eye-thing" going) had mercy and reduced the fine on the spot to $210 and gave me two months to pay. My plan was back in the black to the tune of $30 a year after I'd spent my first foul. Had I paid that fine within the two months allotted, I guess everything would've been peachy-f***ing-keen.
I didn't, though, and was unpleasantly surprised to find, one fine day, some 21 bench warrants in my mailbox. Each bench warrant had taken the late fine of $25 and multiplied it by 10. I was now looking at total parking fines of $5250 - putting my original plan over $5000 in the red. I cast about for options. I called the court to get the facts. I could turn myself in. That would've resulted in jail time since $5k was the threshold at that time. I could've bought a bail bond at 10% to avoid such an eventuality. Meh. I didn't like that option. Instead, I chose the last option - writing a letter to request an audience with the court. My request was granted within weeks. I was given a court date. I showed up. The judge (a sympathetic man witha good Irish name) didn't want to hear my story but, after making me wait to the end of the docket, knocked the fine down to a total of $180 and told me to expect no future consideration should I fail to pay it .
I wrote a check that day and walked out, 2 years after the fact, with a $60 saving on my original plan.
The last time I got a parking ticket here in Ann Arbor, I paid it within the time allotted. Screw that crap.
